Saturday, May 3, 2008

A wounded boy arrives at a hospital in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq on Saturday, May 3, 2008. More than 100 people were wounded in clashes Friday and Saturday in Baghdad's embattled Sadr City district, Iraqi health officials said. A U.S. helicopter on Saturday allegedly fired a missile at a target some 50 meters away (yards) from the general hospital in Sadr City, wounding about 28 people and damaging at least seven ambulances, hospital officials said.(AP Photo)

A boy examines an ambulance destroyed in an apparent U.S. airstrike in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq on Saturday, May 3, 2008. More than 100 people were also wounded in clashes Friday and Saturday in Baghdad's embattled Sadr City district, Iraqi health officials said. A U.S. helicopter on Saturday allegedly fired a missile at a target some 50 meters away (yards) from the general hospital in Sadr City, wounding about 28 people and damaging at least seven ambulances, hospital officials said.(AP Photo)

A man examines an ambulance destroyed in an apparent U.S. airstrike in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq on Saturday, May 3, 2008. More than 100 people were also wounded in clashes Friday and Saturday in Baghdad's embattled Sadr City district, Iraqi health officials said. A U.S. helicopter on Saturday allegedly fired a missile at a target some 50 meters away (yards) from the general hospital in Sadr City, wounding about 28 people and damaging at least seven ambulances, hospital officials said.(AP Photo)

"BAGHDAD (AFP) - A US rocket attack damaged a hospital in the Iraqi capital's violent Shiite stronghold of Sadr City on Saturday, wounding 28 people as American forces claimed to have killed 14 militants in the district.

The US military said it used a rocket system in an attack on militants in Sadr City that witnesses earlier reported was an air strike.

An AFP reporter at the scene said the district's main Al-Sadr hospital was badly damaged and a fleet of ambulances was destroyed.

Just outside the hospital, a shack which appeared to have been the target was reduced to a pile of rubble.

The military said it destroyed a "criminal element command and control centre" by munitions from a "rocket system" at approximately 10 am (0700 GMT)........

Hospital staff said at least 28 people wounded in the strike were brought inside for treatment at the complex which had its windows shattered and medical and electrical equipment damaged.

Medical staff and other hospital workers were livid.

"They (the Americans) will say it was a weapons cache" that was hit, said the head of the Baghdad health department, Dr Ali Bistan, who arrived to assess the damage.

"But in fact they want to destroy the infrastructure of the country."

He charged that the attack was aimed at preventing doctors and medicines from reaching the hospital which is in an area that has seen increased clashes between American troops and militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.[The US military occupation did exactly the same thing during the attacks on Fallujah when it bombed the Fallujah hospital]

The hospital corridors were littered with glass shards, twisted metal and hanging electrical wiring. Partitions in wards had collapsed.

Huge concrete blocks placed to form a blast wall against explosions had toppled onto parked vehicles, including up to 17 ambulances, disabling emergency response teams......."